T-Mobile ‘chopped a cable’ to expel Chinese hackers from its network
The U.S. phone provider escaped a large-scale breach of its network after identifying Chinese-backed hackers early on.
Bloomberg has reported on a recent development from T-Mobile, a leading U.S. phone provider. In 2024, the company's cybersecurity team detected and eliminated a group of Chinese hackers attempting to infiltrate its network. The hackers, identified as the Salt Typhoon group, were part of a larger campaign by Beijing to steal customer data.
The hackers targeted hundreds of companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Viasat, Charter, and Windstream, with the intention of collecting phone records and information about high-ranking U.S. government officials. T-Mobile managed to evade the broader breach by identifying the unauthorized activity in its network early. Instead of attempting a digital solution, T-Mobile's cybersecurity team chose a more traditional approach.
They physically cut the cable connected to the compromised system, as reported by Bloomberg. The company's cybersecurity chief, Jeff Simon, along with three others, drove to the data center in Bellevue, Washington, and using scissors, snipped the cable to sever the connection to the outside world. T-Mobile has not yet responded to requests for further information on this matter.
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